Getting To The Bottom Of This Rick James Documentary Topic
I ran into this topic about three months ago when a video started circulating on the forums I hang out on. People kept asking about it, so I spent a couple weekends digging into it properly. Here is what I actually found, stripped of the usual clickbait. The core of what this is about involves the late funk musician Rick James, born James Johnson in 1948, and a producer/writer named Chris Bynes who worked closely with him during the Supertonics sessions in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Most casual fans know Rick James for "Super Freak" and "Mary Jane," but the behind-the-scenes work that went into those records is where things get interesting. Chris Bynes was part of the inner circle at Gordy Records during the peak James years. He handled some of the arranging and co-writing credits you see on albums like Street Songs and Fire It Up. What the viral version of this story leaves out is how much of a collaborative process James's biggest hits actually were. People tend to treat him like a solo genius, which he was, but the session work and co-production layer matters a lot more than most documentaries give it credit for.
One thing I noticed when I was cross-referencing session logs and liner notes is that Bynes's role got quietly minimized over time. The Motown archival work from the mid-2000s clarified a few things, but even then, the narrative stayed focused on James as the frontman. I found a press clip from 1981 where Bynes is quoted discussing the recording approach for "Super Freak" specifically, and it doesn't match the romanticized version that usually gets repeated. James had a very specific vision for that bassline and the overall groove, and Bynes was instrumental in translating that from a rough idea into the final mix. The part most people skip is the fallout. By the mid-1980s, the business relationship between James and several of his close collaborators, including Bynes, became strained. There were publishing disputes and credit disagreements that never really got resolved publicly. I looked into this because I was researching how Motown handled writer credits during that era, and the paperwork tells a somewhat different story than what James's team promoted at the time. The legal documents from that period are public record if you know where to look, but they are tedious and scattered across multiple court filings. If you want to actually experience the content that makes up this "untold story," it exists in a few places. There is no single definitive documentary that covers everything cleanly. The closest thing is some interview footage that surfaced on YouTube and has been re-uploaded across a handful of channels. The audio quality varies, and some of the versions have been edited down significantly from the original recordings. I found the longest uncut version by searching through Rick James fan discussion boards, where someone had uploaded their personal tape collection. It runs about 47 minutes and includes both James and Bynes discussing the recording process in detail.
There is also the matter of the book that came out a few years back. Super Freak: The Rick James Story by Ed Hughes mentions Bynes and the Supertonics, but only in passing. If you are looking for the deeper cut, you have to go to magazine archives. Rolling Stone had a piece from 1981 that covered the Street Songs sessions, and it gives Bynes more credit than later retellings do. I tracked down a scanned copy through the Internet Archive's magazine collection, which is honestly the most reliable source for this kind of thing. Here is something nobody really talks about. The reason this story keeps resurfacing is partly because of Rick James's estate. After his death in 2004, there was a period where several people with connections to his later years came forward with stories about the business side of his career. Some of it was accurate, some of it was exaggerated. Chris Bynes has not given a major interview in years, which means the available narrative skews toward whatever the more vocal collaborators said. That is a fair thing to keep in mind when you are watching any of the video content out there. Another angle that gets missed is the musical influence itself. The production style that Bynes and James developed during those sessions ended up echoing through a lot of hip-hop production in the 1990s and beyond. When people sample James records, they are often pulling from mixes that bear the imprint of that collaborative work. It is hard to separate James's ideas from the people who helped him realize them in the studio, and that is probably intentional on both sides.
Get the Full Details
I should also mention that some of the material circulating under this title has been sensationalized. The forums I mentioned earlier have a section where people post what they call "untold" stories, and a decent chunk of it is just speculation dressed up as revelation. I spent time comparing what those posts claimed against actual session dates and released credits, and the discrepancies were noticeable. I stopped reading that thread after about two weeks. The credible information is there, but you have to separate it from the noise, which takes some effort. If you want a practical starting point, here is what I would suggest. Watch the longest interview version I referenced above first. Then read the 1981 Rolling Stone piece. Then check the liner notes on the Street Songs and Fire It Up reissues if you can find them. The reissues sometimes include additional producer notes that clarify who did what on individual tracks. That is about as complete a picture as you are going to get without access to the actual Motown vaults, which are not open to the public. There is no download link for any documentary that I can point to that would actually be legitimate. Anything you find claiming to be the full untold story is either pirated or padded with filler content. The real material is scattered across interviews, magazine articles, and album credits, and putting it together yourself is the only way to get something accurate. I know that is less satisfying than a single video, but it is how this kind of research actually works.
